


Azalea Honey

by kahani_kebab



Category: Naruto
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Drama, Drama & Romance, Dubious Ethics, Mildly Dubious Consent, Multi, Multiple Pairings, Psychological Trauma, Romance, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-01
Updated: 2019-04-01
Packaged: 2019-12-27 04:29:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18296855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kahani_kebab/pseuds/kahani_kebab
Summary: Festering things left unsaid begin to have consequences, as old bonds are dusted off and tested.





	Azalea Honey

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! In all honesty I haven't written fanfiction in ages, and I don't really have the patience to fact check every little canon detail, so expect a story that draws heavily on canon but with many liberties taken. This is something that's been on my mind for a while, so I will pop a chapter up every now and again. The story is going to have dark themes and explore morality, so I'll have the appropriate trigger warnings up at the specific chapter. Let me know what you think, and enjoy!

**Prologue**

She first noticed him watching her as she sped from soldier to soldier during the war, staring her down as she reset bones and siphoned her chakra into the wounds of grateful strangers. His gaze was surprisingly alert for someone who'd just lost about a third of their blood in a battle that should've been fatal. She could see him straining to maintain the line of sight that led him to her, the exhausted muscles in his neck twitching in rejection of his constant movement, as she feigned ignorance and immersed herself in the ebb of healing. His chapped lips parted every now and again, as if the words on his tongue where just peeking out to check how thick the tension in the air was, before closing again. But his eyes never faltered in their tracking, and she could feel the intensity of his observation even when her back was turned.

  
The euphoria of having him back wore off around the same time as the first post-war casualty bled out, unattended in a medical tent while everyone else celebrated, the anxious-but-steady rhythm of battle disrupted by a clutch victory. The feeling of inadequacy was gutting, the hard-earned confidence suddenly eviscerated from her body. It should have been a simple heal. Close the major wounds, deal with the hemorrhaging, provide a transfusion, and send the kid home to his family. And he really was a kid, a fresh chunin drafted into the fodder troops, wind-chapped cheeks casting the illusion of rosy vitality on his corpse. Like any moment, he could wake up join the celebrations that ultimately killed him. _This isn't how victory is supposed to feel! This can't be what comes next!_ The admonishing rattled in her mind as she thrust herself into her duties then, ringing, ringing, _ringing_ in her head as a reminder that the war wasn't really over; it was just that the enemy changed. And perhaps a Goddess was a likelier opponent to best than time and mortality.

  
A lifetime ago, Sakura would have been elated to know she'd piqued Sasuke's interest. Before the years of internalizing her love, and wrapping it in a burial shroud of shame and duty. Before snatching the tender pulse of her affections away from the crackling electricity of his betrayal.

  
The ringing hasn't stopped.

 

**Chapter 1**

Naruto knew he was the golden-boy of Konoha; he knew the combined guilt over his childhood mistreatments paired with his current habit of saving the world from apocalypse ever few years or so, had  landed him in a favourable public light. Everyone owed Naruto something, and that debt was all the more important precisely because he wasn't the type to ask for a favour to be returned. So when the Hidden-Leaf prodigy put in a good word for Sasuke Uchiha, clearly guilty of repeated treason, mass-murder and conspiring to literally destroy the world, Naruto knew his good word weighed heavier than any other argument. Naruto felt guilty, using everyone's good will towards him to make sure they settled on the verdict he wanted, but he'd feel guiltier if he dragged Sasuke back to Konoha just to seal his chakra and let him rot in a cell. And so, with a miraculously light sentence, the last surviving Uchiha was yet again roaming the village that had taken away so much from him, cautiously rediscovering his home.

"Stop slurping so damn loud, you idiot," Sasuke grumbled, pulling Naruto out of his thoughts. Naruto took a fresh mouthful of the noodles, slurping and chewing as loud as he could to irritate his friend.

"That's how you're _supposed_ to have ramen you bastard, how else is my man Ichiraku going to know I appreciate the delicious labour of his efforts?" Naruto shot the chef a thumbs up, and Ichiraku returned it without missing a beat. Turning back to Sasuke, Naruto continued to egg him on, taking on a tone of authority.

"I thought you'd have more class than that actually, can't believe you're letting your pride get in the way of proper, ramen-eating etiquette," he said, punctuating his sentence with yet another loud slurp. The last noodle to be suctioned into his mouth whipped around on its way up and Sasuke flinched back, avoiding the spray of broth as Naruto's facade of credibility broke off into muffled laughter.

It felt good, laughing like that, and Naruto let himself indulge in the feeling. This is what it was always supposed to be. No traumatic moral crisis, no divine prophecy, definitely no loss of limbs; just two fools keeping each other good company over good food.

"Don't get too pissed, man," Naruto grinned at his companion. "I'm enjoying the moment."

_All that's missing is Sakura._

And suddenly, the air around them grew frigid.

"She isn't missing," Sasuke stated, face carefully blank. "She's at the hospital, and clearly didn't want to come."

Sasuke picked at his bowl, as the barest frown formed on his face, gaze growing distant. Naruto felt his heart drop, landing somewhere between lungs and diaphragm, pulse growing arrhythmic. _Not this._ The cold new void in his chest sent chills to his fingertips, guilt like a lead blanket smothering him. _Not more of this_.  

Of course he'd felt it; the chasm that was suddenly evident between them. The way she'd been feigning eye contact by looking at the space just between their eyebrows, keeping conversations short and pleasant and meaningless. The smile on her lips and the tensed muscles of her neck. She hadn't spent more than five minutes with them since Sasuke's pardon, always excusing herself with half-hearted apologies and promises to make it next time, all unfulfilled.       

"Hey," Naruto retorted, scrambling for words to warm them back up. "Don't be like that. You know Sakura's busy right now, with all her rehab patients and setting up the clinic. You should have seen her before. All she could think about was the three of us together again, like old times."

Like it was before they'd been forced to age decades in the span of a few years; when the worst of their fallings-out lasted a week at most, easily -if reluctantly- reconciled by offering to pay for a meal. Walking side by side through forests, chasing animals for old ladies, laughing at Kakashi's dead-pan humour. The sun that shone in Naruto's memories washed everything a soft pink.        

Sasuke scoffed, and shot an incredulous look at Naruto.

"What, so she could watch us fight over ramen? Maybe we throw it back a bit and beat each other up?"

"Hey," Naruto shrugged, "its dinner and a show. You know how Sakura is about bargain deals."

"No, Naruto. I don't." Sasuke's frown was clearly present on his face now. "I was batshit insane for three years while you two figured out how to be friends." Fishing the required bills out of his pocket, he left the money he owed next to his half eaten bowl. " I don't know a thing about Sakura. And I think she'd like to keep it that way."

Naruto grabbed Sasuke by the shoulders and leaned into him with the weight of his arms, holding his friend in place. It was maddening, finding the balance between anchor and shackle. "Hey," he started softly, relieved to feel some of the tension leave Sasuke's body.

"You're a bigger dumbass than I thought if you feel like Sakura doesn't want you here."

When Sasuke turned his gaze away, Naruto followed, keeping their eyes locked. The trepidation on Sasuke's face was a new addition to short list of expressions Naruto had seen him make since the end of the war. He didn't like it.

"She has every reason to hate me," Sasuke rued, and the weight of his words were suffocating. "She just can't say it to my face."

Naruto knew Sakura's tears flowed freely. She was generous with them, and they were full of love and frustration. She'd cried on everyone's behalf, feeling pain for them when they couldn't, and burdened herself with a piece of everyone's troubles, shouldering as much as she thought she could. He'd seen it when she thought nobody was paying attention; after long shifts at the trauma center, after shedding the persona of stability and support she put on for the orphans that visited her for therapy. The solitary grief, and the resolution to go back and do it all again.

She'd held Naruto countless times, playing with his hair and whispering soothing words to him when the weight of everyone's hopes and expectations clutched him by the throat and squeezed, tears glittering in her eyes like exposed minerals in cracked ore. But Naruto had never seen her weep with such devastated love and grief for anyone but Sasuke Uchiha, determined to pull as many of his traumas onto herself as she could, all of them even, if only she knew how.      

"Trust me," Naruto laughed, giving Sasuke a playful shake. Swallowing the lump in his throat, he teased, "That's impossible. She had every chance to let you bleed out, but here you are, you ungrateful prick. She'll come around, when she's less busy. And if not, we'll just have to take her schedule into our own hands. Granny owes us for saving the universe, so I'm sure we can get a few strings pulled."

Sasuke sighed, resigned, and leaned into Naruto's hold, who in turn obliged his friend's rare request to be supported. Nothing could breach the silence that enveloped them, as the din of the eatery faded away until the only thing Naruto could hear was Sasuke's steady breath.

"Naruto," he whispered, drawing the boy's attention back to their conversation. "She won't let me fix things. Everything's fucked and I don't know how I'm supposed to fix it."  

_Just stay here, this time._

 Breaking from his usual guise of positivity, Naruto spoke frankly.

"She needs us, Sasuke, just like we need her. Nobody's gonna understand how fucked up we are but us."

And Naruto knew that was the truth. He knew that her scaffolding of constant occupation was weakening, that there was only so far she could run before the absurd weight of it all caught up, and Sakura was overdue to collapse any time now. He also knew that this time, they'd be there to pick her back up. And maybe, they could put the pieces together better this time. Make things lighter, mend a few fractures.  

 "Give it some time," Naruto consoled. "It'll fix itself." 


End file.
